Parkville-Carney Business Association Looks Forward to New Year

Update (12:50 p.m.) — Delegate John Cluster may have spoken too soon when he mentioned an afternoon meeting between area politicians about the Lavender Avenue parking lot at an early morning Parkville-Carney Business Association meeting.

Around 11:15 a.m., Delegate Cluster said that the meeting was now cancelled.  As of this update, no further information is available about the meeting, or whether or not it will be rescheduled.

The Parkville-Carney Business Association met this morning in the upstairs lounge at Jerry D's Saloon on Harford Road in the heart of Parkville to wrap up 2010 and talk about their goals for the upcoming year.

Association president Bob Stratemeyer, who is also a partner in member business EBL Engineers, started the meeting off talking about the 2011 Parkville Town Fair, which will be held on September 18, 2011. 

"The first thing you'll probably notice is that it's not the first Sunday after Labor Day," said Stratemeyer.  "We were competing with two other fairs on that date, so we decided to move it up."

The 2010 Parkville Town Fair had to be rescheduled from it's original date, September 12, due to rain and was held on a very windy Sat Oct. 30. 

"We could have had more vendors and more people show up this year," said Stratemeyer, who pointed to the lack of a scheduled rain date as a cause for the low turnout. As a result, a rain date of Oct. 2 has been scheduled for the 2011 fair.

Next up for discussion was the drive for new members during 2011; the association currently has 50 dues paying members, up from 29 in seven years ago, and down from 103, three years ago.

"Now, I think that's pretty good, considering the economy," said Stratemeyer.  He followed up by saying that there would be a big push for new members in the new year. 

An important change was announced at the Wednesday morning meeting: the association, which met on alternating Wednesday mornings and evenings during 2010, will hold only morning meetings during 2011. 

"We had a lot of people show up to the first evening meeting," said Stratemeyer.  "But attendance sort of dwindled from there." 

Ed Pinder, a local lawyer and member of the association board of directors, was scheduled to speak about the Lavender Avenue Parking Lot at the meeting, but was unable to appear.

"We have a lot planned for next year, but a lot of it is pending the status of the Lavender Avenue lot," said Stratemeyer.

Maryland State Delegate John Cluster attended the meeting, and spoke briefly about the heavily contested Lavender Avenue Parking Lot issue.  "We're meeting here later this afternoon to discuss the lot," he said.

Cluster went on to say that council members David Marks and Cathy Bevins, along with State senator Kathy Klausmeier would be in attendance at this afternoon's meeting.

The Lavender Avenue Lot is the parking area for the Parkville business district, and the Baltimore County Revenue Authority has put the lot up for big to developers.  The Parkville-Carney Business Association opposes the sale of the lot, as do many politicians who represent the area. 

The Parkville Carney Business Association will meet on 4th Wednesdays, 8 a.m. at Jerry D's Saloon during 2011.  The next general membership meeting will be held Jan. 26, 2011.